Getting to ROI on Your Next Web Redesign Project

A marketing colleague and I recently had an interesting dialogue.  How can we calculate a Return on Investment (ROI) of a business-to-business website redesign project?

The Key to ROI

A clear ROI involves setting the goals of the website redesign project well before the redesign takes place.  ROI involves setting and calculating key web performance measurements, usually reported from Google Analytics.

Many Factors

Note that many elements factor into web redesign ROI.  


Search Engine Optimization (making it easier for prospects to find you); an intuitive user experience (making it easier for prospects to navigate your site); improved content (making your site ”sticky” so that people will want to return or value your thought leadership); and “call to action” on the site (making it easier for prospects to download a form or fill out a form) all work to generate performance improvements. 

Critical Measurements

Each web performance measurement must support the overall objective of the redesign project. A typical business sets a goal of an increase in website lead generation performance.

• Number of non-paid web visitors (those visitors not driven by pay-per-click (PPC) programs such as Google adwords or MSN)
• Conversion rates for lead generation of non-PPC visitors filling out “contact us” or forms for papers, offers.
• User performance such as number of inbound sales-related phone calls.
• Average page views per visitor.
• Bounce Rate or percentage of initial visitors who "bounce" away to a different site, rather than continue on to other pages within the b-to-b site.
• Time on site
• Overall sales growth including increased revenues and business expansion.

Sample Success Story

Here’s an example of a web redesign success story, coordinated with my colleagues at Markit Strategies and PR a few years back.

·     Conversions: Since launching a b-to-b client’s new web design and content, conversions in a typical 60 day period (the amount of non-PPC visitors who visit the website and take an action like filling out a form to obtain a white paper or contact us) increased by 33%

·     That means the amount of leads generated by the website increased due to the ease of downloading a paper, or requesting the company contacts them.   Optimized contact form and landing pages played a role in this increase in conversions.

·     Inbound Calls: The percentage of site visitors who contact via the 1-800 phone dedicated to sales doubled since the redesigned site launch

·      Average Page Views:  In a 60 day period, the Non-PPC Average Page Views per Visitor grew by 41% since redesign, which is a good indicator of the value of the content. 

·      Visitor Bounce Rate: The rate of visitors who land on the site and immediately leave, dropped by 50%.

·     Average time on site: In the same 60 day period, average time on site rose by 45%.  This means the site is easier for users find info pertinent to their own industry.

Not There Yet….

The metrics above are not the complete story when it comes to ROI.  It's important to track the following pre- and post-website design benchmarks.

Pre-Redesign metrics

•                Average monthly visits

•                Average conversion rate (leads)

•                Close rate (leads to sales)

•                Average order price

Post-Redesign metrics

•                Average monthly visits

•                Average conversion rate (leads)

•                Total cost of web redesign project

Finally!

Assuming ongoing maintenance and marketing costs of the new website don’t change, and assuming close rate and average order price remain the same, the Return on Investment of the redesign is found as follows:

Step 1:  Calculate the improved Sales Revenue as a result of Improved Conversions, using the percentage of conversions of new monthly visits multiplied by the average order price of closed sales.

Step 2: Subtract the result of Step 1 (Improved Sales Revenue as a result of Improved Conversions) from the fixed cost of redesign in dollars.

Step 3: Divide the result from step 2 by the fixed cost of the redesign in dollars.

Step 4: Multiply the result of step 3 by 100%.

There you have it – a percentage ROI of your web redesign project!  

LinkedIn 101: Three Tips to Get You Started

For such a Twitter fanatic, it’s interesting to consider that I’ve been active in LinkedIn longer than other social media platforms. 

But it has only been in the last few months that I’ve witnessed the awesome power one can garner from into this business-oriented social networking site.

LinkedIn Usage

A recent report by www.btobonline.com found that 93% of business-to-business marketers are engaged in social media marketing. Twenty-six percent of the survey’s respondents cited LinkedIn as their most important social channel  See research here.  

LinkedIn usage facts of note: 

•                LinkedIn has more than 60 million members

•                A new member joins LinkedIn approximately every second

•                Executives from all Fortune 500 companies are LinkedIn members

Given this growing enthusiasm,  how does one get started with LinkedIn? Here are three easy steps to begin, and make the most out of LinkedIn.

1) Build a Profile with Punch.   Join LinkedIn for free and start with your professional profile.  Be as complete as you can with professional history, education, a professional headshot and references. Remember, for those in the LinkedIn community, or even those who are not in LinkedIn and view your public profile, the profile page is the main content they will see. Make it count with relevant URLs, keywords, and by all means, keep it current over time.

2) Build Your Network of Connections.  Reach out to past colleagues, clients, industry associates by searching for them under “people” in the search box.  Chances are, they already use LinkedIn.  Ask to “connect” with them to build a relevant LinkedIn network. Ask those who truly know you, your company and its products or services, to write recommendations for you. These references, once you approved them, will appear in your profile.  As you attend conferences, remember to ask for LinkedIn connections to keep building your network.

3) Tread Carefully with Status Updates. Actively updating your LinkedIn status signals that you stay current and active in your field.  Yet beware! Status updates should offer relevant, professional content or link to industry-related content. LinkedIn isn’t a personal blogging platform.  It is a professional social network. Appropriate updates might include links to your professional blog, your website, industry events, articles by other thought leaders in your industry. Remember, don’t post too often.  In my mind, it’s a big no-no to post every Tweet as a LinkedIn update.  Don’t do it!  Multiple Tweets posted throughout the day look like spam on a LinkedIn page.   You will quickly lose you favor with your connections when you clog up their status update page.  (This is a rant, but hear me out: Tweets belong on Twitter.  Professional updates belong on LinkedIn.) 

Ramp Up Existing Activity

Have you been a member of LinkedIn for a few years now?  Why not try the following in 2012?

• Make time to join groups, follow companies of interest, post in discussion forums, and other activity.
• Keep track of third-party applications to help monitor activity, create content, engage with relevant connections, and build your network.  Box.net, Slideshare, and TripIt are only a few to consider.
• Monitor LinkedIn new features. As an example, LinkedIn Events now provides users with event recommendations of interest based on profile information such as location, industry, and those in a network.

Parting Thoughts

LinkedIn offers tremendous power to those in marketing, or any business. 

Ignore at your own peril!

If More is Better, Then Less is More

I recently attended a Marketing Roundtable event at Ann Arbor Spark.  The group is a gathering of marketing and online communications professionals that provide useful business information.  

Google Analytics

This particular “Roundtable” focused on using Google Analytics to track web visitors, time on pages, conversion rates (how many of your web visitors take an action like download a paper), and other important metrics that indicate how visitors behave on your website

As you likely know, Google Analytics is a free tool that delivers web traffic reports in the form of easy dashboards, summarizing page views, the most visited pages, trends showing time on site, referring websites, etc.

Does Your Website Work?

The event was a great reminder that in marketing, if the purpose of a website is lead generation, the most important consideration is to keep tabs on how folks behave when they visit your website. 

Google Analytics is an easy way to ask: are you getting web visitors to “do something?”

Q&A

At the conclusion of the event, one of the most interesting questions from the gathered attendees came from colleague Jen Jendo of IPD Solution, who asked the panel a great question about the significance of watching the behavior of web visitors when a business-to-business sales cycle is extremely long (12 – 18 months).

With such a lengthy sales cycle, she asked, how can a website support the sales process?

The presenters made the case that, even with lengthy cycles, a website is a useful marketing tool for prospects in the early stage of discovery.  Complex purchase decisions can be supported with white papers, online demos, case studies and other collateral. 

Make it Easy

The key is to make it easy for the prospect to scan over the resources, select what is of interest, and download.   

Don’t overwhelm visitors with highly technical information that folks won’t even read, since people only spend seconds scanning a website. (very hard to keep this focus with some projects I can yell you!)

Instead, provide summary titles of materials in a Knowledge Center. Make the content easy to scan and digest.  Let the visitor select the material of interest, to get to the next level of detail.  

Then be sure to follow up with a call or other outreach to move those folks to the next stage of the buying cycle.

In this way a business to business website supports the decision making for those early in the cycle, and moves them along in complex decision making.

Less is More

What hit a nerve with me was when one of the panelists made the case  “if more is better, then less is more” – don’t overwhelm with information on a b-to-b website.  

Marketers need to choose carefully how much content the website delivers, then be sure to follow up with those visitors who have taken the time to request additional levels of detail.

It’s tempting to slap a bunch of content on a website, especially in-depth details about complicated business software solutions for instance.  

Research and analytics prove otherwise.  

The best way to help your prospect is to present digestible bites of information that lead to more complete content.